PRECIOUS-Gold steadies off 1-month peak on Sino-U.S. trade talk hopes

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May 15 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Wednesday after retreating from a one-month peak in the previous session as Washington and Beijing decided to further their discussions on trade, soothing investor concerns around a full-blown trade war.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was steady at $1,297.45 per ounce at 0136 GMT.

* U.S. gold futures were also steady at $1,298 an ounce.

* U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called the trade war with China “a little squabble” and insisted talks between the world’s two largest economies had not collapsed, as investors remained on guard for a further escalation of tit-for-tat tariffs.

* Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Chinese government also confirmed that the two countries have agreed to keep talking about their trade dispute.

* The dollar was also firm early in Asia on Wednesday, while the Australian dollar brushed a fresh more than four-month low as traders eyed Chinese and European data for evidence that the worst may be over for the global economy.

* In the previous session, both U.S. and European stocks were lifted by Trump downplaying his trade war with China, a day after a spike in tensions between the world’s two largest economies rattled financial markets.

* However, restraining further downside for gold, Asian shares still struggled near a 3-1/2-month low on Wednesday on lingering concerns over the economic impact of a U.S.-China trade war.

* Global investors’ equity allocations fell 6 percentage points in May and over a third of fund managers have taken out protection against sharp stock market falls in coming months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s latest monthly survey found on Tuesday.

* Petra Diamonds said on Tuesday it sold a 425-carat diamond, recovered at its flagship Cullinan mine in South Africa in March, to Belgium-based Stargems Group for $15 million, potentially helping it turn free cash flow positive this year.

DATA AHEAD (GMT)

* 0200 China Urban Investment (ytd) YY April

* 0200 China Industrial Output YY April

* 0200 China Retail Sales YY April

* 0600 Germany GDP Flash QQ SA Q1

* 0600 Germany GDP Flash YY NSA Q1

* 0900 EU GDP Flash Estimate QQ YY Q1

* 1000 EU Reserve Assets Total April

* 1230 U.S. Retail Sales MM April

* 1315 U.S. Industrial Production MM April (Reporting by Arijit Bose in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)